ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with some theories that can be difficult to understand. The basic idea here is that we can never be entirely sure of the meanings that we translate. We thus have to admit we are uncertain about what we translate, and yet we must try to translate nevertheless. In the first part of this chapter we find that there are two groups of theories here: some express uncertainly about translations, since different renditions are always possible, while others express uncertainty about all meanings, whether in translations or in source texts. A reading from Plato’s dialogue Cratylus will help explain the difference. We then run through a few ideas about how translation is possible even when we are uncertain about meanings. The last part of the chapter presents some ideas that come under the label of “deconstruction,” where uncertainty becomes a basis for seeing translation as transformation.
